Saved by grace through faith Faith and Works (Eph 2:8-10)

If you’ve been bowling, you might have observed that little kids can always hit the pins and even get a strike at the odd time. Of course, they have assistance from the bumpers on each side of the lane to prevent their ball from falling into the gutters. Watching their bowling ball weave slowly back and forth from bumper to bumper and then gently knock all the pins down is jaw-dropping and, yes, a little bit humiliating.

Something of this happens in the interplay between faith and works. The relationship between them is quite fascinating and has even been the cause of great tension between Catholics and Protestants. Each of us, at different points in our spiritual lives, has probably veered toward the gutters of “everything is grace/once saved always saved” on the one side and “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12), on the other. In his Letter to the Ephesians 2:8-10, St. Paul can help us understand the relationship between faith and works and keep us from falling into the two’ gutters of heresy.’

St. Paul says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God —not because of works, lest any man should boast…” (Eph 2:8-9). First, we must understand that the initial grace of salvation/justification that we received at the moment of our baptism is an absolute gratuitous gift of God. There is nothing we possess or have done that has merited it. Good looks, great talents, good deeds, a brilliant mind, a successful career, etc., none of that has merited the grace of salvation which makes us pleasing to God. 

St. Augustine understood that God came to save us because we were not living in Communion with Him, which is the purpose for having created us. He says in such a penetrating way: “What God condemns, with the ultimate goal of saving men, is the evil deeds man has done, choosing in his free will to separate himself from his Maker and Creator and returning to evil. That is to say, God condemns what man has done and justifies what He (Himself) has done.” We cannot earn our salvation —this keeps us from relying too much on ourselves and becoming boastful.  
St. Paul continues: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10). This is the other side of the story. The initial grace of salvation -- a completely gratuitous gift -- begins the divine life within us. We are now branches grafted to the Vine (Christ) by the Father. “By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples” (Jn 15:8).  The fruit we are to bear is good works, or better stated, works that are produced through a participation in the grace given to us. St. Augustine, in this vein, said: “God who created you without you, will not save you without you.” In other words, the grace given freely to us is not to remain fallow but to grow. The more our actions/works correspond to grace, the more evident the ‘handiwork of God is manifested in us.’ In fact, through the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, we are able to perform even divine actions. Here, we are reminded that ‘grace through faith’ is not static —as if we receive it and just float to heaven on the lazy river, but it is dynamic and transformative, allowing us to produce fruit. A concrete way of expressing works issuing from faith is by doing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.  

To conclude, St. James states: “Show me your faith apart from works, and I by my works will show you my faith” (2:18). Faith and works live harmoniously together. There is an old saying: “Pray as though everything depended on you, and act as if everything depended on God.” If we put that into practice, we will definitely be able to navigate the lane of orthodoxy where faith and works beautifully weave together.